Being ‘Good at Sport’: Talent, Ability and Young Women’s Sporting Participation

Abstract

This article looks at the construction of active young femininities within the context of girls’ participation in sport. It draws on findings from longitudinal, qualitative research carried out in the UK. The research revealed the importance of ‘ability’ discourses as particularly salient for girls’ ongoing sports participation at secondary school. This was exemplified in the idea of ‘being good at sport’. Throughout the article I consider some of the difficulties for girls in holding onto notions of themselves as ‘good at sport’ and look at the ways in which this identity was both shifting and relational in the context of their peer and schooling interactions. The findings suggest that processes of team selection, emphases on performance outputs and ongoing expectations of fixed athletic development were all particularly relevant to girls’ sporting identities and participation both in and out of school.